This invention relates to communication devices and, in particular, to apparatus contained in the communication device that automatically converts between text and voice mode communications, and can for example generate and transmit a text message based upon the user input voice commands and voice message.
It is a problem in communications technology to efficiently transfer information among users. It is also a significant problem to bridge the disjunct architectures of the various communication systems presently in use for voice and text communications.
Voice communication systems rely on a direct connection on a real time basis from the calling party to the called party or their agent. If the called party is unavailable, the incoming call can be completed to an agent that can comprise either a human operator: message center operator, receptionist, secretary or an automated system for message storage: answering machine, voice mail system and the like. All of these systems operate on a real time direct connection basis, wherein the calling party provides a voice communication that is immediately delivered as it is being generated to the called party or delivered to and recorded by the called party""s agent for later retrieval by the called party. A problem with these systems is that the transmission and storage of voice represents a high bandwidth communications mode, especially the storage of a voice message, which in many cases relies on the use of a mechanical system, such as a tape drive, that is more prone to maintenance problems than an electronic system. However, the cost of storing real time voice messages in an electronic memory based system represents a significant expense.
The alternative text based communication systems operate by the calling party generating a text message and transmitting same to the called party over a communication medium. The text message mode represents a non-real time message system, wherein the calling party generates the text message in real time, on a personal computer for example, but the message is not transmitted as it is generated. It is only when the calling party is satisfied with the content of the text message and activates the transmission of the message that the message is forwarded to the called party in its entirety. Examples of such transmissions are E-Mail over the Internet or an intranet, and facsimile transmissions. The transmitted text message is delivered to the called party by storage of the text message in a memory appropriate for the type of message transmitted. The storage and ultimate retrieval by the called party is also non-real time in nature. For example, the facsimile transmission must be received by the called party""s facsimile machine, decoded and then printed out by a printer. In many cases the called party is equipped with a fax/modem device on a personal computer that stores the received fax in a computer memory for later retrieval and printing by the called party. Furthermore, the E-Mail transmission is passed from mailbox to mailbox via the Internet servers, again not in real time, but more likely in a batch mode mail transfer from transfer point to transfer point in the Internet until the message is stored in the called party""s mailbox. The mail is retrieved by the user only when the user queries the mailbox to determine whether a message is stored therein.
There is even a crossover system of converting the received voice message to a text message and this comprises the use of message center operators or secretaries, who transcribe the received message into a text format. However, this system is expensive to operate and subject to traffic limitations.
Therefore, the problems with existing message communication systems are that they are limited to use of a single format of communication: either voice or text and they are either real time person to person or non-real time xe2x80x9cmailboxxe2x80x9d types of communications. Thus, the calling and called parties must operate in the same message mode to be able to communicate. These limitations of existing message communications systems also result in additional expense when the information conveyed must be converted from the native format of the original message to an alternative form. This typically requires the recreation of the message in the alternate format by the called party with the inherent expense of such an operation. There are no existing systems that enable the calling party or even the called party to selectively generate and receive messages in any desired format, regardless of the message mode of the other party to the communications session.
The above described problems are solved and a technical advance achieved in the field by the present communication device that provides the capability to automatically convert between voice and text messages. The communication device 100 supports both one-way and two-way communications. In the one-way communication environment, a user can implement one-way text messaging: text transmission from the user to a called party, text transmission from a user to a computer system, text transmission from the user to a text storage medium, text transmission from a computer system to the user. In the two-way communication environment, a user can implement two-way text messaging: voice-to-text conversion at each party""s telephone station which text is transmitted to the other party (computer system or human recipient) where it is converted into voice, voice-to-text conversion at each user""s telephone station which text is transmitted to the other party (computer system or human recipient).
As an example, this communication device enables the calling party to input a message in voice mode, then activate the communication device to automatically convert the message into a text message format for transmission to the called party. The communication device can display the content of the text message prior to transmission or can retrieve the message from its memory and play the message back to the calling party in an audio mode. The communication device automatically initiates the outgoing call and, since the message is transmitted in a text mode to the called party, the destination can be a computer system or output to a printer. This feature therefore enables hands free operation for E-Mail. The communication device also provides a data retrieval feature where the user can retrieve E-Mail or voice mail messages using the communication device and have the retrieved messages output in either text or audio format. The retrieved messages, since they are stored in memory in the communication device, can be forwarded to another destination once the user has reviewed their content.
Thus, the present communication device bridges the gap between existing voice communication systems and text based communication systems. The communication device enables users to communicate by exchanging messages even though their communication formats differ. In addition, the communication device can be used as a secure data input device since it can be equipped to authenticate the identity of the user via voiceprint identification.